Page:George Weston--The apple-tree girl.djvu/169

 "Perhaps—if I sat a little closer yet!" thought poor Charlotte. So she screwed her courage tighter and sat a little closer yet, but the only thing which happened—alas!—was that Neil moved farther away, as though to give her room.

"Crowded?" he shouted above the rattle of the car, his eyes still fixed on the ruts and turns.

"N-no," said Charlotte in a faint voice. "I'm all right."

As imperceptibly as possible she returned to her end of the seat and sat there, feeling like a rose probably feels when a foot has stepped on it.

They reached the place where the three abandoned houses stood next to the tumble-down church—that church with its roof fallen in and its steeple awry. The sight of it always affected Charlotte, but this time it fairly depressed her, standing there like an omen, a